Things I Learned From Watching Caleb Hammer

I recently discoverd Caleb Hammer on youtube and quickly became obsessed. He’s kind of like Dave Ramsay but for millenials and gen z’s.

It’s affected me deeply. Mainly I just enjoy watching the train wreck of other people’s lives, but I’ve also got a few of my own takeaways.

Being “Above Average” is no accomplishment.

When confronted with their mounting debt, many people on this show like to cope by saying stuff like this:

• “well I’m still better than most people when it comes to money”
• “overall I’m above average”
• They may also say that they want to become an average spender, or have a “just whatever the average american” budget.

The “average american” is a terrible benchmark for good personal finance. When the average is debt and pooor financial literacy, you shouldn’t aim for average. The “average” is living on a razor’s edge, a mere missed paycheck or docto’s bill away from financial ruin.

You need to be aiming for well above average.

”My parents never taught me” is no excuse

People on the show oftentimes blame their parents for their poor financial skills. They say “I have credit card debt because growing up my mom never taught me how to deal with money”. People also say “well my parents always had credit card debt growing up so I thought it was normal”.

Guess what: SAME WITH EVERYONE ELSE IN THIS COUNTRY.

Stop trying to blame the people around you for your problems. Everyone is in the same boat, everyone else grew up with poorly-educated (financially) parents. It’s up to you, and only you, to get yourself on track financially.

Never get complacent; Never get comfortable

The craziest and scariest guests on Caleb’s show are the ones who had great (or at least decent) financial situations and lost everything.

There was a dude on his show in his 40s, living off his parents, zero savings and zero job prospects. He’s addicted to pornography/onlyfans, was arrested for threatening a politician online, and struggles with daily necessities such as feeding himself and getting up in the morning. By any measure he’s an abject failure and a loser of a human being.

The scary thing: this guy used to own and run a digital agency less than a decade ago. He’s completely slipped and fallen off the edge from what was once an illustrious career as an entrepreneur building digital experiences for brands. That fucking freaks me out. He’s an absolute maniac, fucked in the brain to nearly head-trauma-victim levels. But he was apparently once a normal 30-something with a promising career. His past career accomplishments seem to only serve in his detriment now, rendering him incapable of accepting any job he sees as “beneath him”. It contributes to his entitlement.

Many such cases.